Ben, our Nurse of the Year for England.

Congratulations Ben, our Nurse of the Year for England. We caught up with Ben on his win.

How long have you been working with Thornbury?

I’ve been working for Thornbury since 2016 

What do you enjoy most about your job?

There are several things that I enjoy about my job and this includes being able to make an impact in a patient’s recovery journey. As an agency RMN on general wards I enjoy sharing my mental health knowledge with colleagues within the general ward setting and student nurses, offering advice and working in collaboration with the site mental health liaison team. 

What attracted you to join Thornbury?

My friend introduced me to Thornbury and everything good he told me about Thornbury was true. I enjoy the high level of professionalism and support from colleagues within Thornbury and the great supporting admin team that Thornbury has. Even in the dry moments when colleagues from other agency complain about scarcity of work, Thornbury has always got work for staff. With Thornbury you will never walk alone. 

How do you feel about being the Nurse of the year?

I was over the moon when I received the phone call and the good news. I was on my break and I screamed down the hospital corridor when I was told about the news. It feels great to be acknowledged for the work and sacrifices I make in the care and treatment of patients. 

What do you love about being a nurse?

Making changes in the lives of people especially those who have had a challenging upbringing and feel helpless and hopeless about life. The moments when you can bond well and support teams in managing a complex and challenging patient, who it appears other professionals have had difficulty in getting them to engage with their treatment plans on the ward.

Have you learned anything new whilst working during the pandemic?

I have learned more about covid and the effective management approaches. This has helped me to contain colleague’s anxiety and motivated colleagues to take up jobs on covid wards and this support has strengthened our working relationship.  

What made you continue to work during the pandemic? 

At first, I panicked but staff on the wards especially in the hospital I work at regularly, were so supportive and made work during this period feels safe. Most hospitals that I worked for were very supportive and sometimes you would feel like a permanent member of the team.